Photographer's Note

I haven’t posted a sunset photograph for a while, so here’s one from Kiribati, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. This was taken looking west across a bay on the north side of the Temaiku Bight on South Tarawa – about 100km north of the equator.

The trees silhouetted in the water are mangroves.

Now I have to confess that I bumped up the saturation on this much more than I normally do, but when I was making my PP adjustments, it looked so nice with the extra saturation, I decided to post it like this to introduce a bit of variety into my gallery. Apart from the saturation adjustment, this was cropped, noise reduced with NeatImage, contrast increased slightly and USM applied.

I did think about cropping away the left hand 20 per cent of this image, as it is fairly dark in the bottom left hand corner, but I decided not to as I liked the cloud formation in the sky at top left because it looks like it has been painted on the sky with a brush.

For those who hate over-saturated photographs, I have posted the ‘au natural’ version to the workshop.

UPDATE RE TILTED HORIZON: Given the critiques about the tilted horizon, I went back and had a closer look at this. I rotated the image 0.8 degrees CW and this appeared to correct the tilted horizon, but then the reflections of the mangroves under the sun appeared to be at an angle. So I assumed this must be a perspective problem more than anything else, so I used the transform/perspective tool in Photoshop to push the reflections back to the vertical and this seemed to balance the whole image nicely. I have posted the corrected version to the workshop. Sorry for that – my critiquers are not the only ones who don’t like tilted horizons. I don’t like them myself unless the tilt is deliberately done for artistic effect ;)

I think you are right about not cropping the left side. That was the first thing I thought should be done, until I looked at the shot more. The dark side balances the the lighter and helps pull you eyes to the light. Great shot.

Nice shot. In this case a little saturation goes a long way and I think you made the right move. The original isn't bad either so you really couldn't go wrong in my opinion. Call me crazy but I think cropping the left side would have been the right move as it would place the sun in a more center position.

Hi David,
Lovely sunset! Colors are amazing, and I also like the saturated colors in this photo. It's a bit too dark on lower left corner as you said but overall the colors, textures and lighting fit very well with each other.
Cheers,
Skye

Hi David,
Thanks for the workshop! I prefer it. But maybe this version catches more attention. Our modern culture seems to create attraction to lot of unnatural things.
Great landscape anyway!
About tilt: I don't think it is completely illusion as the right side horizon is higher than the treetops on the left. Barrel distortion of wide angle? Oh, never mind.
Kari

i don't see a problem with your saturation. the sunset was still purple and orange, you've just enhanced it ... and to very good effect. the mangroves make for a nice silhouette and do a good job of breaking the image up.

Very nice, David, I like how the pattern of dark clouds complements the pattern of dark mangroves. It's good you didn't crop from the right side! Although the saturation is boosted, it doesn't look it, which means you did it successfully. (I generally dislike oversaturation and sometimes point it out in comments.) At sunset the camera and the eye see light and color differently anyway, so (as the average French philosopher would doubtless observe) there's no unique reality that you're altering. Regards, Ken.

hi dave,
a spectacular sunset - i particularly like the shapes on the sky - a really greatmoment, the clouds are exceptional and also the quality of the sky colours were superb, then!
best wishes, jerzy

Morning David
It's nice to see such beautiful sunrise first thing in the morning and it starts the day in fresh and warm feeling.
Good PP job, David. The vivid color of blue and the far distanced yellow put up quite an impressive artistic mood.
Well done, David.
Eric Lai

It's good to see your work again, David! I've always wanted to go to Kiribati; just because it sounds so remote and exotic! I love your tones here, your exposure is just right to capture the sillhouettes so nicely, and the glorious colors in the sky.

Hi David,
Hi love very much this a painture, reminding me a recent post of a sunset at the sea, instead of mangroves. Also like your saturation of colours and the tiltness of the horizon seems natural to me (and it is not that evident - if it wasn´t your update note I wouldn´t notice) as you have a bigger bar of vegetation on the left side.
The sillouettes of the mangroves work very nicely in the composition, with the light reflections on the water and the sky is amazing. There are a lot of sunsets in TE, however each one can be still a surprise. Congratulations for this one!
TFS,
Friendly regards,
Ricardo

Hi David
I am a big admirer of photos of sunset and sunrise, so there was no way that I was going to miss this photo.
thanks very much for sharing this beauty .. I like the way the yellowish of the sunset seemed to be all enlosed in blue of the water and the sky
well done
thanks for sharing this one
regards .... sarju

Hi David- what an awe inspiring sunset, the tropical clouds look stunning, and the mangroves set it apart from the usual beach sunset photos. (go to Tajikistan soon and you entire Asia map will be orange)

Hi David,
You enjoyed the first hand beauty of this place while you are there and if you feel good about this with the PP I am sure this is exactly what you felt the place to be. I enjoyed this scene with the strong and vivid colours and especially the contrasting blue and orange. The dark silhouettes provided good weight for the composition. Excellent shot!! Have a nice weekend.

At first, it's a beautiful landscape.I appreciate the fact that you have put the original pic on workshop. Even there colors are quite amazing. IMO to give an artistic effect, the horizon tilted has to be evident so the viewer won't take it for a mistake. Nicely done

David - Excellent silhoueete shot. The exposure on such a detailed sky is absolutely spot on. The clouds at all levels from Cumulus in the distance to the grey stratocumulus/altocumulus tand then the high cirrus still with sunlight on it making it white. Great! Regards Colin